(Ian Ritter is national online editor for GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

NEW HYDE PARK, NY-Kimco Realty Corp. executives expect to expand the company's international asset base by entering markets in South and Latin America, as well as Western Europe. The firm's current international holdings are in Canada, which it entered in 2001 and Mexico, where the company gained a presence the following year.

The plans, announced by executives during the company's fourth-quarter conference call, were not given a timetable. Kimco is considering such an expansion as other US retail REITs, such Simon Property Group and General Growth Properties, are expanding abroad.

So far this year, Kimco has acquired 47 properties totaling $316 million. The purchases included a Western portfolio of 19 assets for $134 million; Copperwood Village, a 350,000-sf center in Houston, for $73.9 million; and $23.1 million in equity investments in 16 Canadian properties.